“No. So they put me in foster homes. That . . . that didn’t work out too well. So, I ran away.”
“Then Dolores brought you here. And made you live down here?”
“Not at first. I slept upstairs on the couch. But then she said I had done some bad things. I didn’t know what they were, but she kept on and on about them. I work really hard for her. I keep the house spotless and I cook and do the laundry. I do what she tells me to do. But then she said I had to come down here and sleep. But she said if I did better, I could move back upstairs where it’s warm.”
“Why does she even have a space like this?”
“She said it was like a safe room. She had it put in when someone broke into her house once. Least that’s what she said.”
“Okay,” said Pine. “But the door only locks from the outside, so it’s not much of a safe room, is it?”
Gail looked confused. “Oh, right. I never thought about that.”
“Does anyone ever come by here?”
“Not that I know of. I’ve never seen anybody except Dolores.”
“So you’ve never tried to get away?”
“I wouldn’t have anywhere to go and I thought there was a d-dog.”
She burrowed her face into her knees and started to sob.
Pine slid over and put her arm around her. At first, Gail jerked back, but then she slowly leaned into Pine’s shoulder.
“Okay, look, first thing we need to get you out of here. I have a friend waiting in a car outside. We’ll take you to where we’re staying and get you cleaned up and buy you a meal, okay? You look hungry.”
“Dolores said I’m so skinny I don’t need to eat much.”
“Yeah, I’m sure she did. Put your sneakers on and grab whatever else you want to bring with you.”
“There’s nothing, really.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
Pine led the girl up the steps and out of the room.
They had reached the foyer when the two women stepped out from the shadows.
Pine saw Blum first.
And Desiree second. The little woman was holding a gun to the side of Blum’s head. She had put on weight, and her hair was long and gray and clung to her head like strings of weighted beads. The face was hard and tight and full of venom.
She looked at Pine and said, “You’re not going anywhere.”
CHAPTER
31
I’M SORRY, AGENT PINE,” Blum said, even as Desiree Atkins dug the muzzle deeper into the woman’s temple. “She was on me before I knew it.”
“Shut up.” said Atkins, before she glared at Gail.
“What the hell are you doing up here? Do you want the dog to get you?” she added shrilly.
Gail shrank back behind Pine.
Now Atkins leveled her gaze on Pine. Her brow wrinkled. “You look really familiar to me. Do I know you? You look like trouble.”
Pine said, “I probably look like a lot of people who you think are trouble.”
Atkins nodded but her suspicious look was still present on her features. “I have a surveillance camera set up at the end of my driveway. I got an alert and saw on my phone when you drove in. Joe taught me all about surveillance. But the stuff they have nowadays? All wireless with a phone app. It’s how I disarmed my alarm system before coming in just now.”
Pine just stared at the gun.